"I did not know that you had a sister," said Wei.

"Oh yes, I have," answered Jasmine, quite forgetful of the celebrated
dictum of Confucius: "Be truthful." "She is just one year younger than I
am," she added, thinking it well to be circumstantial.

"Why have you never mentioned her?" asked Wei, with animation. "What is
she like? Is she anything like you?"

"She is the very image of me."

"What! In height and features and ways?"

"The very image, so that people have often said that if we changed
clothes each might pass for the other."

"What a good-looking girl she must be!" said Wei, laughing. "But,
seriously, I have not, as you know, yet set up a household; and if your
sister has not received bridal presents, I would beg to be allowed to
invite her to enter my lowly habitation. What does my elder brother say
to my proposal?"

"I don't know what my sister would feel about it," said Jasmine. "I
would never answer for a girl, if I lived to be as old as the God of
Longevity."

"Will you find out for me?"

"Certainly I will. But remember, not a word must be mentioned on the
subject to my father, or, in fact, to anybody, until I give you leave."